The Rebirth of Evil
by El Seph
Summary: The only reason this story exists on this site is so it can get MST'd. If you actually enjoy this fic, though, feel free to review it, I guess. You can probably tell what happens just by the name of the title. PG13 for violence and language.


The Rebirth of Evil

The Rebirth of Evil

By: Sephiroth

Chapter 1—A Broken Silence

After the defeat of Sephiroth in the Northern Cater, peace slowly but surely returned to the Planet—for some time. At last, Cloud and his friends were able to relax.

Cloud, Barret and Tifa were hanging out at the 7th Heaven. They practically lived in the downstairs lounge. The bar itself had been closed, since they didn't need to make anymore money: they acquired at least 2,000,000 gil from their travels. The three of them were lying on sofas, talking about their comrades, who had all gone their separate paths.

"Cid told me he was going to keep flying in space," Tifa explained. "I believe Cait Sith was going to sponsor him, since he worked for Shin-Ra."

"Don't you be sayin' that name in front of me!" yelled Barret, furious. "I told ya, I'm tryin' to forget them assholes!"

"Sorry," apologized Tifa. "Anyway, Red XIII—"

"You mean Nanaki," Cloud interrupted.

"Whatever. He was going back to Cosmo canyon to see his grandfather, as we all expected. Hopefully, it wasn't hit too badly from Meteor…"

"I'm sure Bugenhagen's fine," said Cloud. "Meteor destroyed Midgar, but it was repaired by the Lifestream, remember? If Cosmo Canyon got hit at all, the Lifestream would have restored it too."

Yeah, I guess you're right," Tifa agreed. "Let's see, who have I missed…oh yeah! Yuffie and Vincent! Yuffie went back to Wutai, and will probably continue to be a Materia thief. And as for Vincent, I'm not sure."

"And why do you know all this and we never heard about it?" Barret asked.

"I dunno," Tifa said. She looked down at her watch. "Man, it's late. I think we could all use some sleep." She reached over to the light switch and turned it off. "Good night, you two," she said with a yawn.

"Later," replied Barret.

Cloud said nothing. He was already asleep.

That night, Cloud had a dream. He dreamt that he was being lifted up, high into the air. Then he stopped, and set his feet down and was able to stand on the winds. He walked forward, looking down on the Planet miles below him. He then approached a gate made of sparkling gold. Cloud felt a light breeze at his back, and the gate slowly opened, not making a single creak. On the other side he found a garden…no, it looked more like…a flower bed…someone was there…

"Cloud!"

"Cloud, get up!"

"Cloud, say something!"

Cloud struggled to open his eyes and saw Tifa and Barret trying to get him to wake up. His whole body ached, and he wanted to know why.

"Wh…what happened?" he mumbled.

But his own question was answered once he sat up and gazed upon the horror that had made rubble out of Tifa's 7th Heaven.

Chapter 2—Death From Above

It was Jenova.

"Jenova!" Cloud burned up with rage. The Mako in his eyes glowed, a bright, fluorescent blue. "What's she doing here?"

"No time to explain!" Barret cut in sharply. "We've gotta stop this @&?#! before it destroys the rest of Midgar!"

The three of them sprung to their feet and began charging toward the monstrosity. Jenova had her back turned to them, and was firing a volley of lasers down upon several victims, who were screaming and running from the rain of terror. However, Jenova sensed a threat behind her, and quickly turned to face Cloud, Barret and Tifa. Leering at them, an evil grin appeared on her face.

"Ha ha ha ha!" Her voice boomed and echoed into their brains. "So, you've come back to oppose us once again. Well, this time, it won't be such a walk in the park for you. Meet my new form—Jenova SHADOW!"

Her body did resemble a shadow: she was very dark, darker than the deepest blackest, most remote alleys of the Midgar Slums. She was also somewhat translucent, in the same way that a shadow is. But the three heroes did not have much time to study this, as Jenova sent out a telekinetic wave at them, lifting them several feet into the air and slamming them into the hard, cold concrete. Cloud got back up quickly, unsheathed Ultima Weapon, dashed toward her, then leapt high into the air and brought the blade down on top of her. Jenova reeled backward but quickly recovered. She then lashed out at Cloud with a black tentacle. It wrapped around him and started draining his power, giving it to Jenova. Barret counteracted by firing several rounds from the Missing Score into the tentacle, severing it. The part of the tentacle wrapped around Cloud unraveled and lay limp. Cloud knelt, low on stamina. Tifa noticed this and pointed her hands at him. A sparkly field of energy then surrounded Cloud, and suddenly his strength was restored. Thanks for the Cure 3, he wanted to say, but had no time to do so, as Jenova was throwing fireballs at them now. Tifa was hit by several of them, but she withstood them like a granite statue. She then retaliated by performing Beat Rush, Somersault, Waterkick, Meteodrive, Dolphin Blow, Meteor Strike, and to finish it all off, delivered a Final Heaven. Jenova was almost knocked over but remained standing. Tired of getting pounded on, Jenova gathered magical energy then cast Freeze on each of them. Surrounded by icy rocks, the trio was unable to harm Jenova any further.

"Can't…break…outta this!" Barret was overworking his bulky muscles to try to shatter the ice.

"Ha ha ha ha!" Jenova laughed, her voice echoing through the ice stones they were trapped in. "You fools are going nowhere. Now that you are helpless, I can continue to go about as I please." She turned to Cloud. "You…why are you so imperfect? Some clone you turned out to be. Anyway, I've had enough of this." She then began to gather lots of magical energy. "Now, to finish you off…FOREVER!!!" Green sparks shot out from her and formed a gigantic green mist of destruction. It was Ultima.

Chapter 3—Salvation

The Ultima, strangely enough, never hit them. Instead, Jenova let out a horrible, ear-piercing scream. Then she turned red, and slowly vanished. Jenova was dead—for good.

The ice surrounding Cloud, Tifa and Barret had melted suddenly, leaving the three of them dripping wet. Then the earth shook a little. Something heavy had landed on the ground. The trio turned around to find the Highwind in front of them. Jumping out of it were several figures: Cid, Cait Sith, Red XIII, Yuffie and Vincent.

"Hey, you're all here!" Cloud yelled with excitement. "How did you find us?"

"Well, I was on one of my space missions," explained Cid, "and when I looked down on the Planet, I saw a big-ass explosion! I zoomed in, and found out that it was you guys fighting that @&?#! Jenova. I then rounded up everyone else and we flew over here."

"But you guys never could have made it here that fast!" Barret said.

"True," said Red XIII," if we didn't have Time Materia on hand. We used Haste on ourselves and cast Slow on everything else, meaning we were going at approximately the speed of light."

"And I used Turbo Ethers on everybody else to prevent them from running out of magic power," said Vincent.

"Okay," remarked Tifa, "but there's one thing I still don't understand: how come when Jenova cast Ultima, it never hit us?"

"Reflect, duh!" Yuffie exclaimed. "I cast it on you guys right before you got hit with Ultima. That's why Jenova died instead of you. You would have been toast if my quick thinking and superb skill hadn't saved you. So, you'd better thank me."

"And I used Remedies on you to melt that ice surrounding you," Cait Sith explained. "We should get back to the Highwind now. You can tell us all about what happened once we get there." And so, they headed back toward the great airship.

"Hey!" Yuffie shouted. "You never thanked me!" But she soon forgot about the rudeness of the others, because upon merely looking at the Highwind, she felt sick to her stomach.

"Oh great," she muttered to herself, "here we go again."

Later on in the day, Cloud, Tifa and Barret told the rest of the group what happened, just like Cait Sith said.

"So she just came out of the sky and started destroying everything?" inquired Cait Sith. "Why would she suddenly reappear and try to destroy you now?"

"There's only one reason I can think of for that," Tifa answered. "To avenge Sephiroth."

"Damn!" Cid said suddenly. "That's the fifth time she's died! Don't those ^&@?#$! Jenova cells ever stop working?"

"Actually, I think they have," Cloud said. "The cells probably can't keep someone alive indefinitely…and I don't feel her presence within the Lifestream anymore."

"What?" Cid nearly jumped out of his seat. "You're sayin' you can 'feel' if someone's dead or not? Man, you just keep getting' weirder and weirder." Then, without even saying good night, he went off to bed in his quarters.

"I believe Cid has the right idea," Red XIII said. "We should get some sleep, and then Vincent can tell the rest of you what he told me. Good night."

Tifa and Cloud exchanged puzzled looks. What did he mean? Without another word, the remainder of the group went off to bed.

Chapter 4—Vincent's Discovery

The next morning, everyone ate breakfast quickly because they were all anxious to hear what it was Vincent had to say. Now that everyone had full stomachs, they were all ears.

"Friends," Vincent said, then hesitated before he finished his sentence. "I saw Hojo not too long ago near the Northern Crater. He looked rather weak, and he had reverted back to his human form. I saw him climbing down into the crater. I believe he was looking for his son. I don't think he ever got news that we slew Sephiroth. If Hojo wasn't looking for him, then there's one other thing I can think of that he'd be doing down there: making his way to the center of the Planet to do the same thing that Sephiroth tried to do and suck the very Lifestream out of the Planet. I suggest we follow him."

Silence ensued. The rest of the party was completely shocked, not just because Hojo was still alive, but because Vincent hardly ever said more than a few words at a time. Finally, Yuffie spoke.

"How the heck's Hojo still alive?" she asked.

"He injected himself with Jenova cells, remember?" Cloud replied.

"Oh," Yuffie muttered, but then quickly ran off. She was feeling sick to her stomach again.

"Vincent's right," Cloud continued. "We should follow Hojo immediately. Who knows what kind of scheme he may be up to."

"Already got that covered," Cid announced. "I've set the Highwind directly on course to the crater."

A couple minutes later, they arrived at the giant hole in the ground. After landing next to it with a thud, they each selected some Materia to take along with them just in case, then jumped out of the Highwind and slid down the slippery outside of it. They followed the spiraling path down into the depths of the crater, fighting the occasional monster along the way. Cloud easily dispatched of most of the creatures with the Ultima Weapon, not to mention that he had the 4x-cut ability at his command. They finally found the evil scientist close to the bottom, near the center of the Planet.

"Stop right where you are, Hojo," Cloud said bravely with his sword unsheathed, "and tell us what it is you're doing down here!"

Hojo turned around and sneered at the sight of his pursuers. "Oh, great," he growled, "not you guys again! How did you find me here?"

"There are more important things for you to worry about right now, &#?@$(!" Cid told him. "What the hell are ya doin' here?"

"I—I was searching for something," Hojo mumbled, "but I seem to have already found it. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

"Not so fast!" Cid rushed forward and impaled Hojo with the Venus Gospel. "What was it you were looking for?" Cid ordered. "C'mon! Answer me!"

"I'll never tell you," Hojo gasped, running out of air after getting his lungs pierced through. Filled with anger, Cid flung Hojo off his spear and into the gaping pit that led to the center of the Planet. Hojo's figure became smaller, smaller, smaller…until he was no longer visible.

Chapter 5—The True Planet

"You sure did show him!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"That was awesome!" Cait Sith said.

Soon everyone was celebrating Cid's spectacular display of homicide. Everyone except Cloud.

"Hold on a minute," he said, trying to shut everyone else up. When everyone was silent, he continued.

"Hojo said that he found what he was looking for, meaning we got here too late. So, I think our next order of business is to find out what he was searching for."

"He was searching for me," said a cold, dark voice. The ground began to shake violently, and someone began to rise from the gaping pit leading to the center of the Planet. When the figure was visible, the group could see his long, silvery hair and his fierce green eyes. He wore a black cloak and carried a long sword that gleamed even though there was no light for it to reflect. They know immediately that their worst nightmare had returned to haunt them: Sephiroth.

"No…" Cloud gasped.

"You were too late in attempting to destroy me," said Sephiroth in his eerie, unworldly voice. "I had already become one with the Planet, and a self-sufficient God at that. You cannot ever destroy my body completely, for it will regenerate rapidly. Now that I _am_ the Planet, I am invincible. Unstoppable. Immortal. And you are all helpless, worthless life forms that I as the Planet do not need. I don't even need this Planet itself, because I _am _the Planet. In fact, this whole universe means nothing to me, so I will obliterate it entirely. Once this universe is gone, the Promised Land will be mine."

"Are you finished?" Barret remarked. "Or should I blow your head off _now?_" He didn't wait for an answer. He fired continuously right at Sephiroth's head, but the bullets went right through him.

"It's apparent that you weren't listening to what I said," Sephiroth continued. "Very well, then. I shall destroy you all without the help of Meteor. But first…" he turned to Cloud. "We must finish what we started." The two of them were instantly warped to a black void, the same place that they had faced-off in before. Everyone else was still inside the crater. Seeing that he had no choice but to fight Sephiroth, Cloud rushed toward his opponent and thrust the Ultima Weapon into him. Sephiroth felt no pain. Maybe I need magic to beat him, Cloud thought to himself. He cast Flare on Sephiroth. Nothing happened. He cast Comet 2 on Sephiroth. Nothing happened. He even cast Ultima on Sephiroth. Nothing happened.

"Ha ha ha ha," Sephiroth laughed. "Is that it?" Immediately, he summoned Supernova, which nearly crippled Cloud. Now Sephiroth was summoning something else.

I've had enough playing around," he told Cloud. "This ought to finish you off."

Cloud was suddenly sucked into another dimension. Sephiroth had summoned Knights of the Round. One by one, the knights appeared, some attacking Cloud physically, others casting spells on him. Then King Arthur arrived and practically sliced Cloud in half. He was as good as dead.

Chapter 6—Damnation

But Cloud wasn't dead yet. In fact, he was still standing.

Sephiroth burned up with rage. "How…how could you have possibly lived through that?" Sephiroth shouted, shocked. "Hmmm…I didn't think I'd have to resort to my extreme Limit Break, but you leave me with no choice." He pulled out his sword, glowed orange, and yelled, "Omnislash S!!!" He dashed toward Cloud and sliced him 99 times. Cloud was undergoing severe torture. The attack never seemed to end and when it finally did, Cloud collapsed, lifeless.

"Hm hm hm hm…heh heh heh heh…ha ha ha ha…HA HA HA HA!!!!!" Sephiroth laughed maniacally as he warped himself out of the dark void, leaving Cloud's corpse to lay there for eternity. Raising up his arms, Sephiroth slowly sucked the remaining Lifestream from every single living organism—and the Planet exploded.

"Cloud…"

"…Cloud, wake up…"

Cloud slowly opened his eyes. Lifting his head up, he found that he was lying in a flowerbed floating in the sky. And sitting next to him…was Aeris.

Cloud could not believe his eyes. "A…A…Aeris! How did you—"

Aeris cut him off. "It's you who came here. I've been waiting for you ever since I was killed."

Cloud understood now. "But…what about the Planet?"

"There's nothing that can be done now," Aeris said sadly. "The Planet has been destroyed. Soon, Sephiroth will annihilate the rest of the universe. Sephiroth has won…in a sense."

Cloud looked perplexed. "In a sense?"

"Sephiroth destroyed the human race. That was one of his goals. But his other goal—finding the Promised Land—shall never be attained."

"Why is that?"

"Because…this _is _the Promised Land."

Cloud was astounded. "So…we won too, in a sense, right?"

"Yes."

Cloud was now incredibly happy, since he knew that he was in the Promised Land, not to mention being able to be with Aeris again. Soon after, Tifa, Barret, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Cid, Yuffie and Vincent came to the Promised Land. The group was together again…forever.

The only person who wasn't happy was Sephiroth. He was forced to live in a void of nothingness for his endless life. With nothing left to destroy, Sephiroth had trapped himself until the End of Time.

The End


End file.
